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seeds of memories

Seeds of Memories

C Venues

Edinburgh Fringe 2022

Although Seeds is a script-based show, and has a modesty in both production and ambition – it seeks to tell a story of personal grief, of a young man for his grandfather – it offers an example of how the Fringe Festival has a place for emerging companies who respond with an imaginative dramaturgy and a subtle poignancy. Moreover, in contrast to many theatre-makers who reduce puppetry to a novelty, BHP demonstrate both a sensitivity to the craft and an awareness of how the puppet can add to an atmosphere of magic.

Writer Patrick Withey has scripted a short performance that follows his memories of a grandfather who introduced him to the power of gardening: his subsequent death leaves an emotional hole that is explored through revisiting the garden and discovering a spirit of place that speaks both of the old man’s importance and the healing power of nature. The puppetry, unsurprisingly, brings the grandfather back to life: in line with ideas about the puppet as a symbol of the inanimate, Seeds has an almost ritualistic calm, avoiding sensationalism and sentimentality for something altogether gentler and moving.

There are no great claims in the work about environmentalism, or even theatre. Instead, the company inhabit a discreet and tailored scenography that allows space for the puppets to emerge not as an intrusion but an organic and natural element. Fittingly for the ghostly subject matter – the script meditates on grief and memory, and the elegant inter-twinning of loss and hope – the puppets appear and retreat, with the spirit of the place reintroducing the grandson to some of the mystical ideas that his grandfather had softly passed onto him.

With strong performances, and a sophisticated dramaturgy that enhances the narrative, Seeds is a rare Fringe show that does not attempt to dazzle and awe. Yet it is in its very modesty that is most hopeful and most promising, suggesting that BHP’s ambitions are more than matched by their talent.

Gareth K Vile